


collateral damage

by eskimok



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Blink and you'll miss it, Canon Compliant, Character Death, Heavy Angst, Levi-centric (Shingeki no Kyojin), M/M, Not Beta Read, Soft Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Tags Are Hard, also eren, does this count as heavy angst, enjoy, idk - Freeform, idk TAGS, levi might be kinda ooc tho sry, like very major character death, spoiler alert it's levi, tbh ereri isn't rly mentioned properly, wait kinda manga spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:06:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28221378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eskimok/pseuds/eskimok
Summary: Levi opens his eyes.And he closes them.ORWhere Levi learns to find peace
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	collateral damage

Levi opens his eyes.

The sky is painted grey, hazy and dim. Sharp stabs of pain course through his entire body, and he can feel a piercing migraine shooting against the right side of his face. His legs burn and he’s pretty sure he has a nasty gash in his side, but he can’t give up. He’s humanity’s strongest; what good is being the best if he’s knocked down?

Every noise is muffled. Someone sobs loudly. Is it Connie? Or Armin, maybe? His vision flashes white as he coughs, blood dribbling out of his mouth dangerously. Levi grimaces. It feels dirty. He wants to wipe it off, but he can't find the strength to raise his arms.

A blurry face appears in his line of vision. The mouth moves frantically, and something drops onto his cheek. Tears? Why are they crying? He’ll be fine, it’s just a couple of wounds. He’ll get up eventually. Levi’s eyes close. Someone screams.

-

When he opens his eyes again, he's in an unfamiliar place. It's almost like an eerie desert, except there’s a huge tree in the distance. The branches extend like spider webs across the inky sky, criss-crossing endlessly away. Levi turns his head towards the strangely large luminescent tree, eyes locking on a small figure in front of the glowing trunk.

"...Hello?" Levi croaks out, taking a tentative step forward.

The figure stiffens. It turns to him, surprised. Then it starts running towards him, and Levi takes a few confused steps back.

It's a child, Levi realizes, as his legs start to lose feeling, sitting down tiredly on the sand. He should feel scared, with a child running towards him desperately without abandon, but he feels a bit too tired to summon any feeling of terror. The child approaches him, stumbling to a stop right in front of Levi. The boy has strikingly beautiful eyes, Levi thinks hazily.

"Levi?" the boy gasps out, confused. "But- how- what are you doing here?"

The first thing that comes to mind is the somewhat familiar tone of voice. Levi racks his mind for any spark of recognition, but he can't think properly and his head starts to pound, so he stops trying.

The second thing that comes to mind, Levi blurts out to the boy. "How do you know my name?"

The boy freezes. Then the boy starts to transform. It's the strangest sight Levi's ever seen. One moment, the boy is there, and the next, he's replaced by... by someone familiar. He can't place who it is, can't think with his head starting to throb and throb and _throb_ , but Levi smiles at the distraught teenager in front of him.

The boy trembles. "C-captain? Do you... don't you recognize me?"

Levi's vision blurs for a moment. He shakes his head, trying to clear the fog overtaking his mind. He focuses and takes a good look at the boy in front of him, who is wringing his hands desperately.

His mind tries to supply a name, a name he is fairly certain he knows, but all his mouth can say is: "Your eyes are really pretty."

And the kid starts crying. Levi blanches, trying to somehow console the boy, whose face is now streaked with tears. Levi opens his mouth to say something comforting, but what makes it out of his traitorous mouth is a violent cough. He coughs for a moment or two, then pulls himself together, grimacing. Levi wipes his mouth with his sleeve, eyes wide as he stares at the still-crying teenager, and when he pulls his arm away, he catches speckles of red smudged on the sleeve. He ignores it.

The boy suddenly collapses into Levi's arms, and all Levi can do is awkwardly hug him back. The kid mumbles something, something suspiciously sounding like "I've always wanted to..."

Levi pushes away the urgent thought that he _knows_ this boy, he _does_ , and he pulls the boy away from him slowly.

The boy sniffles, and Levi offers a small smile that probably looks more like a wince. His side suddenly starts to throb, throat itching, and it takes everything in Levi not to suddenly cough his lungs out again. The boy stares at Levi, tears welling in his soft eyes. Levi stares back, frowning as he suppresses the suffocating feeling at the back of his throat.

"My name's Eren," the boy whispers, pointing at himself hesitantly. "Do you... remember me?"

Memories flash through Levi's head briefly. Those fierce, beautiful eyes, screaming out so clearly the will to fight, to kill. The sometimes frustrating stubbornness, but the absolute dogmatic sense that he admired. Hesitant pats on the shoulder, thrown looks of reverence, desperation, admiration... he shakes his head. The boy- no, Eren- stares at Levi uncomfortably. Levi tilts his head.

He raises his hand and cups Eren's face gently, and Levi smiles. Eren's eyes widen. Something drips down the side of Levi's head, seeping down into his shirt.

Eren raises his hands, trembling, and Levi forces out a small smile one last time before swaying, collapsing backwards. There is a small shout of surprise, and Levi's vision blurs. Eren's face appears in Levi's line of vision, and Levi feels a small sense of deja vu. He wipes a tear from Eren's face, eyes fluttering shut as blood stains his shirt crimson.

Eren cries. Levi smiles. "Don't cry," Levi whispers. "You'll look ugly later."

The last thing he hears is a watery laugh and a small "I love-" before the world goes white again.

-

Levi opens his eyes one last time.

The sky is bluer now, a peaceful shade of silver. He can't feel pain, not anymore. The pain had faded away a long time ago; his face is numb and his side pulses dully. He can't feel his legs.

His vision flickers in and out of focus constantly, pulsating with flashes of red. It grows harder and harder to breathe, and Levi vaguely feels like he’s drowning. He can hear someone talking softly, something brushing against his blood-matted hair and sticky face.

Levi feels peace where he shouldn’t. He’s humanity’s strongest- he’s supposed to be the strongest- he has to get up. He can’t give up now, not when they’re still fighting, not when people are dying, not when people need him. His body throbs once, twice.

He opens his mouth desperately. Do people still need him? Is everyone alright? Countless questions build up in his throat. Are they safe? Did they win? Is it over? Levi chokes. His body doesn’t listen. He has to- he has to get up-

Someone caresses Levi’s face, and he leans into the cool touch. He feels his hair being brushed back, the tears wiped off his messy cheeks. When did he start crying?

_Can I rest?_ Levi wants to ask. He feels small hands cup his face, pulsing bright eyes illuminated in a dying sky. He looks into the eyes of a child, a partner, a cadet, a soldier, a boy. Someone keeps on talking. Tears roll silently down Levi’s face. _Can I go?_

_Rest_ , the voice murmurs, soothes. _Rest_.

And Levi closes his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> wELL that was a wild ride
> 
> I wrote this during the ungodly hours of the morning after a sudden bout of inspiration so please kindly call out mistakes if you see any! (pls be kind ahaha,,,,,,)
> 
> lmao my first work is angst what does that say about me
> 
> thank you for reading?? ALSO feedback is really really appreciated ((so are kudos!))
> 
> ////sidenote i think my levi/eren are kinda ooc so pls ignore that


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